Government and industry agree on collaboration guidelines
pharmafile | February 1, 2008 | News story | |Â Â Â
New guidelines to help NHS bodies work with the pharmaceutical industry have been agreed after months of negotiation, and could open the door for closer ties.
The exact terms have been many months in planning and negotiation between the Department of Health and the ABPI, and will now give a more detailed and formal set of guidelines to PCTs and other health service bodies about how to engage with pharma.
A selection of the best examples of pharma-NHS collaboration are highlighted in the new guidance, including a project conducted by East Lincolnshire PCT in alliance with three pharma companies on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The project identified people with suspected COPD and provided training for clinicians to manage these patients and establish specific COPD clinics. The programme saw a 23% reduction in admission rates in COPD, compared to single figure fall in neighbouring PCTs. Over a five-month period, 78 out of 215 case-managed patients had acute episodes that were managed at home with only one resulting in hospital admission.
Health minister Dawn Primarolo says this fits with patient expectation to have their care provided in the community.
"We know that joint working between the NHS and pharmaceutical industry can bring real benefits to patients so we want the NHS to work with them more to improve patient care," she said. "This best practice guidance demonstrates that patients really can get better care when the NHS and industry work together."
Judith Smith, respiratory nurse consultant, and Noel Kelly, a GP with a specialist interest (GPwSI) in respiratory medicine, from East Lincolnshire PCT said: "This guidance will help steer NHS organisations in developing transparent mature relationships with the pharmaceutical industry. Ultimately both the NHS and industry have a common shared goal in improving patient well being with effective treatments and services."
Richard Barker, director general of ABPI, said: "The pharmaceutical industry has a huge amount of expertise, not only in the modern, innovative medicines it has researched but also in the conditions they have been developed to treat. Increasingly, the importance of this knowledge being shared with our partners in the NHS for the benefit of patients is being recognised, and this guidance can only encourage the constructive use of such activity in the UK."
The best practice guidance and the Ministerial Industry Strategy Group’s long-term leadership strategy report, with supporting studies, can be found here and here.
